Rand Paul was adamant Friday that he will not drop out of the race for the GOP nomination, despite the speculation over his single-digit poll numbers.

"I believe the leaders in the Republican primary will not be those who are leading currently, and there is a lot of historical proof to that," the Kentucky Republican senator told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" co-host Martha MacCallum.

"There is more to campaigning and judging someone's campaign than a poll of 200 people. We have 300 million people in the country."

Paul pointed out that his campaign is widely spread and has raised nearly $20 million from 150,000 donors, so there are "a lot of other measurements than a poll."

He said another argument for himself is that he is the only GOP voice that believes it is a mistake to return to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he believes "it is a voice that needs to be heard."

Paul emphasized that that "voice" is one that is more popular among independent voters and young people, who are not often measured in polls.

"I defy anyone to find a college kid in Iowa who did a presidential poll," Paul said. "So I think the youth is underrepresented in the polls and the independents. So we think we are in the mix of things and we will be competitive. We are in it to win it.... I would not do this if I didn't believe I could win the nomination."

He also answered criticism over his comment during a livestream event earlier this week in which he told a questioner that he wouldn't be "doing this dumbass livestreaming" if he was dropping out.

"I would call it sarcasm," Paul told MacCallum. "I just finished reading mean tweets. It is humor. People don't understand sarcasm. It was a joke. And some people that are too literal didn't get it."